Singapore Stock Market May Extend Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,260-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good inflation news and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the properties and trusts were limited by weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the industrials.

For the day, the index perked 1.72 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,258.90 after trading between 3,255.59 and 3,273.47.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.42 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 2.59 percent, CapitaLand Investment climbed 0.82 percent, Comfort DelGro retreated 0.84 percent, DBS Group tumbled 1.49 percent, Emperador declined 0.98 percent, Frasers Logistics skyrocketed 4.80 percent, Genting Singapore surged 2.75 percent, Hongkong Land improved 0.46 percent, Keppel Corp perked 0.18 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.56 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust spiked 2.16 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.59 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.16 percent, SATS lost 0.36 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 1.86 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.55 percent, SingTel increased 0.41 percent, Thai Beverage plunged 2.33 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.27 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.24 percent, Yangzijiang Financial strengthened 1.35 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.83 percent and City Developments was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 415.15 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,274.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 208.41 points or 1.73 percent to end at 12,221.91 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.48 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,109.31.

For the week, the S&P soared 3.5 percent, the NASDAQ accelerated 3.4 percent and the Dow climbed 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.

With this inflation reading said to be preferred by the Fed, the data led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in Q1.